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iPhone wannabe round up: Sony, Microsoft

It's been a busy week for those playing catch up to the iPhone:

• Sony is apparently working on gadgets to rival both the iPad and iPhone. A Playstation phone is rumoured, along with a device combining the combined elements of a netbook, portable games console, and ebook reader.

• Microsoft could be launching its 'Pink' phone as early as 20 April. Seems to be limited on features so it probably can't really be put in the same bracket as the iPhone. I'm sure Microsoft will try to spin it that way though.

Apple sues HTC, real target is Google

Apple today launched a lawsuit against mobile phone manufacturer HTC for infringing its multitouch patents.

However it's plain to see that HTC is the proxy for the real target: Google. The fight for the future of computing has begun.

Rubber iPhone shock?

Confusion reigns today - perhaps the strangest rumour for a while states that in addition to various hardware tweaks (see yesterday's news) the next version of the iPhone will come in rubber.....

Perhaps it has something to do with the support article posted by Apple today on how to avoid static electric shocks from your iPod/iPhone ear buds. Or maybe not. Or maybe it's just a slow news day.

On a more interesting note, analyst firm Gartner reports that Apple has doubled its smartphone market share in a year, now boasting over 10% of global sales.

iPhone now has 51% of US smartphone market - AdMob

According to AdMob, the iPhone now accounts for 51% of the US smartphone market. The ad company's Mobile Metrics Report, which tracks handheld web traffic based on served banner and text ads, showed that iPhones made 51 percent of smartphone requests handled in the United States during January 2009. 

When looked at globally, the iPhone came second with 32% of traffic, Nokia was first with 43%. RIM, the BlackBerry manufacturer was a distant third, with just 9%.

Apple overtakes Palm to take silver in smart phone market

According to research from ChangeWave, Apple's iPhone has overtaken Palm to claim second place in the smart phone market.

The survey shows that in November the percentage of companies that provide iPhones was 14%, compared 11% for Palm.

There is also good news for Apple when planned expenditure is taken into account.

According to ChangeWave:

"RIM (78%; down 1-pt) continues to garner the dominant share of planned corporate smart phone buying, but the Apple iPhone (22%; up 5-pts) shows considerable momentum going forward.

We note that RIM's corporate share is heavily concentrated among larger companies (over 1,000 employees), while three quarters of Apple's share is among small-to medium-sized companies (under 1,000 employees).

Further confirming that the 3G iPhone is having a positive impact on the corporate market - nearly one-in-five respondents (18%) say the release of the 3G has made their company More Likely to purchase Apple products in the future."